Larkfield’s biggest
Leybourne Lakes Country Park
Park or garden
109 ha (270 acres)5.0 km of path
1 h 5 minto walk all 5 km of path
153 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.8 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: David Anstiss · CC BY-SA 2.0A−Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Larkfield · parks, paths & countryside
Larkfield has more park space per resident than nearly 9 in 10 UK towns
Parks and playing fields in Larkfield add up to 5.6 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. The Kent Downs National Landscape begins 0.1 mi from the town’s edge. 99 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 3.4 for every square kilometre. Larkfield grades A− for the outdoors: #25 of 87 in Kent. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
5.6 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
75%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
99 km
3.4 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
27%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Kent Downs National Landscape
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Larkfield?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Room to roam5.6 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 89% of UK towns.Protected countryside27% of the land within 5 km is Kent Downs National Landscape.
Larkfield’s strongest suit is plenty of park space, followed by protected countryside on the doorstep.
Outdoors grade
Larkfield grades A− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Larkfield, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
A−
Better than 85% of UK towns#25 of 87 in Kent · 13th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space5.6 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
89out of
100
100
A park within a walk75%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
38out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape27%of the land within 5 km
82out of
100
100
Footpaths3.4 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
69out of
100
100
The sea0%of the area within 5 km · Inland: 0.6% sea, under the 5% that counts
42out of
100
100
Graded, never part of the overall grade (like History and Civic life). It measures what is mapped: OS Open Greenspace leaves out woodland and open-access land that isn’t a park, and OpenStreetMap’s rural paths are more complete in some places than others.
Towns its size
Larkfield is 13th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 24,100 to 28,300 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Outdoors score: the share of UK towns each one beats
Footpath, km per km²
Larkfield3.4
Towns its size3.5
Kent towns2.6
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Larkfield5.6
Towns its size2.5
Kent towns2.3
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Larkfield75%
Towns its size83%
Kent towns78%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Larkfield stands out most for park space per resident: only 6 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 51 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee-on-the-Solent Hampshire | A+ | 5.7 | 96% | 3.7 | 1% |
| 2 | Stroud Gloucestershire | A+ | 4.6 | 79% | 5.8 | 70% |
| 3 | Sevenoaks Kent | A | 8.1 | 76% | 3.8 | 70% |
| 4 | Stalybridge Greater Manchester | A | 5 | 82% | 4.8 | 12% |
| 5 | Ashington Northumberland | A | 5.6 | 83% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 6 | Newport Isle of Wight | A | 1.8 | 80% | 3.8 | 37% |
| 7 | Ash and Ash Vale Surrey | A | 4.3 | 72% | 5.4 | 20% |
| 8 | Huntingdon Cambridgeshire | A | 5.7 | 99% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 9 | Woodley Berkshire | A | 5 | 81% | 4.3 | 1% |
| 10 | Lancing and Sompting West Sussex | A | 1.8 | 80% | 3 | 37% |
| 11 | Totton Hampshire | A | 1.6 | 94% | 4.4 | 50% |
| 12 | Burntwood Staffordshire | A− | 5.3 | 81% | 3.4 | 12% |
| 13 | Larkfield Kent | A− | 5.6 | 75% | 3.4 | 27% |
| 14 | Rickmansworth Hertfordshire | A− | 2.9 | 81% | 4.4 | 11% |
| 15 | Ewell Surrey | A− | 7.5 | 89% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 16 | Felixstowe Suffolk | A− | 2 | 88% | 1.9 | 28% |
| 17 | Stretford Greater Manchester | A− | 3.7 | 92% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 18 | Tadworth and Epsom Downs Surrey | A− | 3.4 | 65% | 5.3 | 16% |
| 19 | Heanor Derbyshire | A− | 4.2 | 92% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 20 | Gorleston-on-Sea Norfolk | A− | 1.4 | 81% | 3.2 | 17% |
| 21 | Little Hulton Greater Manchester | A− | 8.6 | 87% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 22 | East Grinstead West Sussex | A− | 1.6 | 87% | 3.7 | 58% |
| 23 | Wilmslow Cheshire | A− | 4.4 | 90% | 4 | 0% |
| 24 | Newton-le-Willows Merseyside | A− | 5.2 | 99% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 25 | Daventry Northamptonshire | A− | 4.1 | 99% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 26 | Herne Bay Kent | B+ | 2.3 | 83% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 27 | Portishead Somerset | B+ | 2 | 82% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 28 | Haverhill Suffolk | B+ | 2.4 | 91% | 5 | 0% |
| 29 | Longbenton Tyne and Wear | B+ | 3.3 | 80% | 6.2 | 0% |
| 30 | Thatcham Berkshire | B+ | 1.9 | 87% | 3.1 | 27% |
| 31 | Fleetwood Lancashire | B+ | 2.7 | 92% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 32 | Cheadle Hulme Greater Manchester | B+ | 3.9 | 80% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 33 | Bradley Stoke Gloucestershire | B+ | 2 | 93% | 5.3 | 0% |
| 34 | Darwen Lancashire | B | 2.2 | 89% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 35 | Newton Aycliffe County Durham | B | 2.1 | 94% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 36 | Rugeley Staffordshire | B | 1.2 | 94% | 2.7 | 37% |
| 37 | Witham Essex | B | 1.9 | 94% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 38 | Egham Surrey | B | 4.1 | 63% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 39 | Broadstairs Kent | B | 1.7 | 76% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 40 | Atherton Greater Manchester | B | 3.8 | 83% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 41 | Rhyl Clwyd | B | 1 | 84% | 2.2 | 7% |
| 42 | Droitwich Spa Worcestershire | B | 2.5 | 84% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 43 | Evesham Worcestershire | B− | 1.7 | 80% | 3.5 | 4% |
| 44 | Thetford Norfolk | B− | 2.9 | 65% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 45 | St Austell Cornwall | B− | 1.2 | 71% | 2.5 | 7% |
| 46 | Ashton-in-Makerfield Greater Manchester | B− | 2.6 | 93% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 47 | Melton Mowbray Leicestershire | B− | 3.3 | 84% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 48 | Hindley Greater Manchester | C+ | 2.5 | 77% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 49 | Coseley West Midlands | C+ | 1.4 | 84% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 50 | Newquay Cornwall | C+ | 1.6 | 75% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 51 | Horley Surrey | C+ | 1.9 | 84% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 52 | Market Harborough Leicestershire | C+ | 1.9 | 94% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 53 | Stratford-upon-Avon Warwickshire | C | 1.6 | 84% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 54 | Walton-on-Thames Surrey | C | 1.6 | 81% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 55 | Golborne Greater Manchester | C | 3 | 66% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 56 | Frome Somerset | C | 1.3 | 78% | 2.4 | 9% |
| 57 | Wickersley and Bramley South Yorkshire | C | 1.7 | 77% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 58 | Wickford Essex | C | 2.4 | 59% | 3 | 0% |
| 59 | Ormskirk Lancashire | D | 1.5 | 80% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Wisbech Cambridgeshire | D | 1.2 | 79% | 1.4 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Larkfield’s built-up area.
Green space: parks, gardens, playing fields and play spaces, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · Contains OS data © Crown copyright · Natural England / NRW
Places to walk
Parks to walk in, in and around Larkfield
The biggest is Leybourne Lakes Country Park, 109 ha (270 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
All 4 named parks by size: 123 ha (305 acres) and 6 km of path
Parks & gardens 109 haPlaying fields 14 haPlay spaces 0.1 ha
The two biggest, Leybourne Lakes Country Park and Aylesford Bulls Rugby Football Club, are 95% of the named green space and carry 5 km of path between them.
Aylesford Bulls Rugby Football Club
Playing field · 30 m outside town
7.2 ha (18 acres)0.5 km of path
10 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1.3 mi eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Ferryfield
Playing field
6.6 ha (16 acres)0.1 km of path
9 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1.4 mi eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Coronation Garden
Play space · 300 m outside town
0.1 ha (0 acres)
1.6 mi eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
7 in 10 Larkfield residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
Each square is 1 in 100 residents: green lives within 400 m of a public park, garden or playing field (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (75%)Further (25%)
Larkfield75%
Towns its size83%
Kent towns78%
All UK towns83%
About 7,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 56 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 467 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Kent Downs National Landscape is 0.1 mi away
Protected landscapes within 30 km, by direction and distance from the edge of the built-up area; circle size shows each one’s area. National Landscapes were called Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty until 2023.
National ParkNational LandscapeThe 5 km the grade counts
National Landscape
Kent Downs
0.1 mi north-west879 km²since 196827% of the land within 5 km
Official site27% of the land within 5 km of Larkfield is National Park or National Landscape, more than 82% of UK towns.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
4 waymarked walks pass through or near Larkfield
99 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Larkfield and the kilometre around it, 3.4 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
RegionalLocalOther waymarked
Medway Valley Walk9.9 km
Augustine Camino4.7 km
Scenic Green Trail Section 14.7 km
KCC Centenary Walk0.6 km
2 regional routes pass through, including the Medway Valley Walk and Augustine Camino.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
When to get out
The best walking months in Larkfield: May to September
The town’s 1991–2020 averages (Met Office HadUK-Grid) and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15 °C or more and little rain for the town.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 8.3 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.6 | 16.6 | 16.1 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 66 | 53 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 43 | 58 | 52 | 77 | 78 | 73 |
July is the driest month (43 mm) and the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 78 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 39 nights a year. The climate in Larkfield →
Things to do
56 playgrounds and the nearest beaches
Mapped within 2 km of the town in OpenStreetMap, against the typical UK town its size per resident. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
The nearest beaches
Larkfield is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
The Beach7.1 mi from Larkfield’s edge
DirectionsNorthfleet Beach11 mi from Larkfield’s edge
DirectionsEgypt Bay Beach12 mi from Larkfield’s edge
DirectionsSt Mary's Bay Beach13 mi from Larkfield’s edge
DirectionsCoombe Point Beach13 mi from Larkfield’s edge
DirectionsGood to know
Check the water before you swim. The Environment Agency tests designated bathing waters from May to September and publishes a rating for each beach.
Every named place, with directions
Nature reserves 1
Ditton Quarry Nature Reserve14 ha · 0.0 mi from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 56
Corben Close Play Area0.3 mi from town
DirectionsHermitage Park Playground0.3 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 54 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Next door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
West MallingEcclesSnodlandKings HillBurhamWateringburyLarkfield
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Larkfield | A− | 5.6 | 75% | 27% |
| West Malling 1.5 mi | A+ | 8.7 | 100% | 21% |
| Eccles 1.9 mi | A | 3.7 | 100% | 30% |
| Snodland 2.0 mi | A+ | 7.7 | 97% | 44% |
| Kings Hill 2.5 mi | A− | 2.4 | 100% | 7% |
| Burham 2.6 mi | C+ | 1.4 | 77% | 35% |
| Wateringbury 3.4 mi | C− | 2.4 | 73% | 0% |
Snodland, 2 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: 97% of its residents live within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Larkfield
What is the biggest park in Larkfield?
Leybourne Lakes Country Park, 109 ha (270 acres), with 5 km of path. Aylesford Bulls Rugby Football Club (7.2 ha) is second. 4 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Larkfield near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Kent Downs National Landscape, 0.1 mi north-west of the town’s edge. It covers 879 km² and was designated in 1968.
What are the best walks near Larkfield?
4 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Medway Valley Walk, Augustine Camino and Scenic Green Trail Section 1. Leybourne Lakes Country Park alone has 5 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Larkfield?
The Beach, 7.1 mi from the edge of the town, then Northfleet Beach (11 mi). Larkfield itself is inland.
How many people in Larkfield live near a park?
75% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace). The typical UK town is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Larkfield?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Larkfield good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.4 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 69% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 89% (5.6 ha per 1,000 residents).
How is the Outdoors Grade worked out?
From five measures, each placed among UK towns of 1,000 or more: public green space per resident, the share living near a park, National Park or National Landscape within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Larkfield’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Larkfield’s outdoors figures come from
- Parks and green space: Ordnance Survey OS Open Greenspace (parks and gardens, playing fields, play spaces, and their access points). Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- National Parks and National Landscapes: Natural England and Natural Resources Wales boundaries, areas and designation dates, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Footpaths, walking routes, beaches and things to do: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License (ODbL), via Geofabrik, 16 October 2026.
- Historic parks, listed buildings and monuments: Historic England, National Heritage List for England, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Rain and temperature: Met Office HadUK-Grid 1991–2020 averages for the town; daylight calculated from its latitude.
- The sea: ONS Countries (December 2024) boundaries clipped to mean high water. Residents near a park: ONS Census 2021 output areas.
- Grade: TownRatings’ Outdoors Grade, ranked against UK towns only.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.